Rhino horns made radioactive to foil traffickers in South African project Guardian (resilc)
Reading Hits Differently to Listening For Your Brain, Science Says ScienceAlert (Chuck L)
‘Ozempic face’ drives surge in cosmetic procedures as weight loss drugs boom Boing Boing (resilc)
#COVID-19/Pandemics
COVID-19: A VASCULAR NIGHTMARE UNFOLDING
🔥EXCELLENT REVIEW ARTICLE needing your attention!
➡️“This article provides a comprehensive review of the mechanisms underlying thrombosis in COVID-19 patients, as well as the advancements in clinical trials and guidelines for thrombosis… pic.twitter.com/nHchlEHKnQ
— Harry Spoelstra (@HarrySpoelstra) August 1, 2025
Long COVID: SARS-CoV-2 persists in the brainstem in the long term and deregulates neuronal activity Instuit Pasteur
🧵 Thread: Why don’t people take COVID seriously in Year 6 of the pandemic?
A virus that disables the immune system, damages the brain, heart, and vasculature.
And spreads like smoke.
Yet the world shrugs.
Why?
Because mass denial is doing what it always does.
1/18 pic.twitter.com/IcoopzXlAQ
— James Throt MBBS, MD, PhD, FRCPath (@JamesThrot) July 30, 2025
U.S. childhood vaccination rates fall again as exemptions set another record STAT
Climate/Environment
Ghostly silence from blue whales is an ominous sign for the world WION
Lapland’s record-breaking heatwave is already threatening the lives of reindeer YLZE
France braces for heatwave next week: 40°C [104F] forecast near Pyrénées Connexion France
‼️MIDDLE EAST HISTORIC HEAT WAVE
51.8C Swiehan
EMIRATES HOTTEST DAY IN HISTORYAlso record August hottest night at Al Ain MIn 36.4C
In Turkish highlands Min 27.2 Tunceli Record hottest night (23 consecutive days breaking records in Turkey) ! pic.twitter.com/K4DxruBvkd
— Extreme Temperatures Around The World (@extremetemps) August 1, 2025
Iranian president says country is on brink of dire water crisis Reuters
China's average temperature in July was 23.64°C, the hottest July and the hottest month on record! Nine provinces broke their July record, with five provinces recording their second-highest average temperature for the month, and three provinces their third-highest. @extremetemps pic.twitter.com/q2cMF8FKdn
— Jim (@yangyubin1998) August 1, 2025
Japan, South Korea Issue Alerts Amid Historic Temperature Highs: ‘Not A One-Off Anomaly’ News18
Amazon deforestation surges in Colombia, reversing historic gains Independent
Heavy rain and flash floods batter US east coast with emergency declared in New York Sky
China?
China isn’t "vying" for anything. The U.S. already gave up the AI crown by killing open source, gutting robotics, and handing the future to Wall Street.
China Vies to Unseat US in Fight for $4.8 Trillion AI Market – Bloomberg https://t.co/UDHxe4d0YL
— William Huo (@wmhuo168) July 31, 2025
Disguised mortgages’ threaten China’s fragile property sector The Banker
As China’s Economy Slows, So Too Does Dry Bulk Shipping Marine Link
By building the world’s biggest dam, China hopes to control more than just its water supply The Conversation (Kevin W)
European Disunion
Eurozone economic growth slows to 0.1% in second quarter Yahoo
Czech fatigue with Ukrainian refugees grows amid economic concerns Euractiv
Old Blighty
If you are in the UK, a must read. Raise a huge stink with your MP:
‼️from the network ✔️Western channels write something strange, and it is difficult to verify it:
At night, Russian special forces landed in Ochakov on several boats and penetrated the command center. They captured British soldiers who coordinated the use of British missiles and… pic.twitter.com/i7poKPs4qv
— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) July 31, 2025
UK CEOs Are More Downbeat About the Economy Than During Lockdown Bloomberg
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
High Court grants full legal review of Palestine Action ban in massive blow to Yvette Cooper.
Palestine Action founder, Huda Ammori, will now be able to bring a full legal review in the Royal Courts of Justice.
Full Press Release: https://t.co/2hLCj1PJ5e pic.twitter.com/bPXH7oAvE2
— Defend our Juries (@DefendourJuries) July 30, 2025
Car finance payouts have been limited, but lenders aren’t off the hook BBC (Kevin W)
Israel v. The Resistance
Half a Million Palestinians Dead, and the World Trades On BettBeat. A badly needed reminder that the numbers of Palestinians fatalities are vastly understated in official and media accounts.
Israeli soldiers avoided interrupting Witkoff’s propaganda tour by using silencers for today’s killings pic.twitter.com/8kJvtg3wZw
— Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) August 1, 2025
Aid trucks headed for Gaza were hijacked by the Yasser Abu Shabab gang, an ISIS-linked militia backed by the Zionist entity and whitewashed in the Wall Street Journal. They opened fire on civilians, then drove off with the trucks. pic.twitter.com/yzMqcuEJvF
— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) July 31, 2025
Israel Apologists Think “No No, We’re Starving SICK Kids!” Is A Winning Argument Caitlin Johnstone (resilc)
The hosts of Israel’s “Two Nice Jewish Boys” podcast emphasize that their fellow Jewish Israelis enjoy seeing people in Gaza suffer, and that it makes their daily lives more satisfying to know Palestinians are hungry and homeless pic.twitter.com/UGP2xc7KJy
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 31, 2025
Finally, the Dam Shoring Up Support for Israel Seems to Be Breaking New Republic (resilc)
🧵"We'll kill the monsters… All of Gaza will be Jewish… The government is racing to erase Gaza. Thank god, we're erasing this evil, and erasing the population that was raised on Mein Kampf"
Excerpts from several interviews with Amichay Eliyahu, Israel's genocidal Minister of… https://t.co/JowKi2SQW4 pic.twitter.com/dB6Itx2I9o
— B.M. (@ireallyhateyou) August 2, 2025
Hala Jaber – What The World Is Offering Palestinians Isn’t A State. Moon of Alabama (Kevin W)
How much is shoddy, pro-Israel journalism worth? Ask Bari Weiss. Responsible Statecraft (resilc)
Decision delayed for pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge as police warn of possible crowd crush Guardian. Go Sydneysiders!
* * * Zionist forces escalated strikes deep into Lebanon today, targeting Brital’s mountainous outskirts in the Bekaa twice, along with repeated bombardments of al-Mahmoudiyeh and al-Jarmaq in the south. The spread and frequency mark a clear shift: deeper, bolder, and closer to… pic.twitter.com/fglGrSyOjK
— Thomas Keith (@iwasnevrhere_) July 31, 2025
* * * Is the regional Zionist Project going to include occupation of Cyprus? Vanessa Beeley. Dodged a bullet. Cyprus had been a finalist as an expat option.
* * * A Further US Attack on Iran Would be Pointless Kabuki Alastair Crooke. Chuck L: “And it would trigger a round two of the counterattack on Israel. And this time they might not halt it when Trump unilaterally declares a ceasefire.”
Iran drives out 1.5 million Afghans, with some branded spies for Israel BBC
Brilliant diplomacy! Iran has internalised the hard lessons of past negotiations.
In a firm and unapologetic statement, Foreign Minister @araghchi declared that U.S. presidential envoy @SteveWitkoff has requested a meeting—but that Tehran will only consider talks under two… pic.twitter.com/kXyQPQecx3
— Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) July 31, 2025
* * * Harlan Ellison: Tough Jew Part III Clifford Meth (rowlf). Trust me, you will be glad you read this.
New Not-So-Cold War
[SPECIAL] – Scott Ritter: Trump deploys Nuclear Subs to Russia over Social Media Rift Judge Napolitano, YouTube
Trump Escalates Nuclear Threat to Russia… Taking the World to the Brink of Nuclear War Larry Johnson
* * * 🇷🇺⚔️🇺🇦🇬🇧Britain is raging! Its officers were captured by Russian special forces in Ochakiv – Russian fighters penetrated the Ukrainian rear in boats… new details ‼️
During the operation, called "Skat-12", British officers were captured helping Ukrainian armed forces guide… pic.twitter.com/iHfmnVuKXH
— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) August 1, 2025
Shocking kidnapping by the Russian Spetsnaz of two British colonels leading the Bandera sabotage in the Crimean direction Dr Ignacy Nowopolski
* * * NATO group sailed the Barents Sea as Russia launched multiple missiles in exercise Barents Observer
John Mearsheimer: Liberal Delusions & How NATO Led Ukraine Down the Primrose Path Glenn Diesen
* * * US senators propose $55bn Ukraine aid bill RT (Kevin W)
Big Brother is Watching You Watch
Biometrics to replace stamps at EU border from 12 October BBC
Imperial Collapse Watch
🇮🇳 🇷🇺 🇨🇳 India wants to revive the Russia-India-China trilateral dialogue (RIC) which has been dormant for half a decade.
This comes after signs of an India-China rapprochement and increased US aggression against India over its trade relations with Russia. pic.twitter.com/M813IK40QV
— Dott. Orikron 🇵🇹 (@orikron) July 31, 2025
Trump 2.0
Trump fires US labour statistics boss after weak jobs report Financial Times. Lead story. Full bore Trump insanity takes US officially into late-stage USSR.
Trump UnWokes Smithsonian YouTube (resilc)
The Inside Story of Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin Wired (resilc)
Trump Blasts Hawley Over Stock Trading Ban American Conservative
Trumponomics
Stunning revisions show US added 258K fewer jobs than first reported The Hill
America is About to Find Out Car Prices Just Got Insane YouTube (resilc)
America on life support as ‘ally’ launches huge sabotage operation… and the results are terrifying Daily Mail (resilc)
Tariffs
Trump’s trade war returns America to the 1930s Telegraph
My friend is in the business of buying wholesale steel rebar, steel beams, steel sheets, etc. from inexpensive overseas producers and then selling it downstream to American homebuilders who build budget homes.
He got an email from his customs broker this afternoon that their…
— Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) July 31, 2025
Five things now pricier in Canada due to tariffs BBC
Tariffs Land on Taiwan Amid Tension With Washington New York Times (resilc)
Confusion and anger in Switzerland – hit by highest tariffs in Europe BBC (Kevin W)
How to Avoid a Huge Customs Bill on a Cheap Online Order New York Times (resilc)
Might Tariffs Get “Overturned”? Barry Ritholtz
L’affaire Epstein
12 Points on Zionist Occupied Territory and Epstein Sam Husseini
Russiagate
FOIA Files, Russia Edition: Reports The Government Used to Support its 2016 Joint Attribution Racket News
GOP Clown Car
What a shock. The huge amounts of money being poured into the Super PAC to remove @RepThomasMassie from Congress are all coming from the big GOP donors for whom Israel is a top cause: Miriam Adelson, John Paulson, Paul Singer. https://t.co/PHT544pook
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) August 1, 2025
How the Republican Texas Redistricting Scheme Could Backfire Washington Monthly
Groves of Academe
Mr. Market Has a Sad
Goldman Urges Caution as Global Credit Spreads Hit 2007 Lows Bloomberg
Copper getting obliterated by more than 20% and is currently on track for its worst day in history 📉📉 pic.twitter.com/dTcyTOtllq
— Barchart (@Barchart) July 31, 2025
A must read. Click through to get the full tweet:
The copper market’s historic collapse is about how a single policy shift can puncture a carefully constructed financial illusion. For months, global copper flows were distorted by speculative bets around U.S. trade policy. Traders flooded U.S. shores with refined copper,… https://t.co/q7tr7uu3Bl pic.twitter.com/uuSlXUtXX1
— EndGame Macro (@onechancefreedm) July 31, 2025
AI
ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results ars technica (Paul R). Wonder how many were on the order of “How do I hide assets from my wife?”
Mark Zuckerberg says without AI glasses, you’ll be at ‘cognitive disadvantage’ SFGate (resilc)
The Bezzle
Money by Vile Means Compact (resilc)
This is the sad state of news these days. Today, a Waymo car crashed into another Waymo, but the media hasn't covered it at all. I've seen no articles. If this were two @Tesla Robotaxis, it would be all over the news. Negative headlines against Tesla generate clicks. Ones about… https://t.co/XsdJvTRbsW pic.twitter.com/jOjhGccRal
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 31, 2025
Class Warfare
Confessions of the Working Poor Macleans.ca (resilc)
The Rise of Luigism City Journal (resilc). The author does not get it. Some others who did. JFK:
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable
And Fredrick Douglass:
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
Who owns most of the farmland in Illinois? Not farmers Chicago Tribune (Paul R). From June, still germane.
The Texas Economy Ain’t All That Bloomberg
Antidote du jour (via):
And a bonus:
The fact that some people believe that animals don’t feel or have emotions blows my mind. Look at this beautiful baby. I want to hug him pic.twitter.com/1VLYAttmeN
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 2, 2025
A second bonus:
Cats will be cat pic.twitter.com/lgil4tAJzE
— Beauty Of Nature 🌳 (@ShouldHaveAnima) August 2, 2025
See yesterday’s Links and Antidote du Jour here.
“Decision delayed for pro-Palestine protest on Sydney Harbour Bridge as police warn of possible crowd crush”
They got the go-ahead from the Supreme Court today. Needless to say, the usual groups are gnashing their teeth & rendering their garments over this-
https://www.jwire.com.au/harbour-bridge-protest-to-proceed-after-court-ruling-as-jewish-leaders-warn-of-rising-tensions/
If there are rising tensions, it is because of the deliberate starvation of children by Israel.
Go Aussies. Meanwhile that retro piece from the late Harlan Ellison–his stance being “wake me when it’s over”–is not what I would call “tough.” Tough would be openly demonstrating against the ME mess and not merely tweaking an Israeli journalist. Larry David would be a more recent example of this ironic detachment school, but some of us grew to see his HBO show as a bit smarmy. It could be time for those who constantly like to play the outsiders to admit that they are now the powerful and their opponents are not all “fascists” or boobs.
Getting tough does not include: “openly demonstrating against the ME mess and not merely tweaking an Israeli journalist.”
I appreciate your sentiments, but “demonstrating” resolves nothing and is only a first, nice step. We should be past “being nice” to Istrael. It’s time to strike, both in the sense of boycotting and disturbing Istraeli business as well as large action by powerful countries such as Yemen.
“powerful countries such as Yemen”
That’s a shocking indictment of the smug, self-satisfied countries most of us live in, and the “leaders” we’ve “chosen”. We should be ashamed. I certainly am, both of my inability to do anything concrete in response to genocide, and of the spineless country I live in.
A performative “Ooh, Israel, is being naughty” is arguably worse than doing nothing at all.
Image if U.S. bombed Harlem, surrounded it and cut off food and electricity bc Black Panthers.
Even US did not sink to Israel’s definition of civility
Lol I didnt expect that link to Scotty Kilmer. He has to be taken with a grain of salt, but can have some good information occasionally. I do think that Uncle Tony’s Garage guy has some good things to say about planned obsolescence and the environment. I tune out once he start talking about buying precious metals and something about the Federal Reserve.
If you want quality car repair videos, watch Eric Obrochta at South Main Auto Repair, Avoca NY. I learned a lot watching those.
Rainman Ray isnt bad either.
on youtuber: The Car Care Nut (especially if for Toyota/Lexus owners);
Honda: TE Videos (tiktok and youtube shorts);
for general autos/esp. domestics: Car Wizard;
for general auto/domestics, Royalty Automotive;
for engine autopsies, “I Do Cars” engine teardowns
Lots of quality info out there, no reason for anyone to be 100% ignorant on any topic. of course, the standard disclaimer—-don’t just go out and start copying something you see on a screen
PS, Scotty is the king of a perfectly crafted clickbait headlines for the “Youtube Algo”.
anyone in the car market has already known new-used car prices, part prices have gone insane since Covid—-while quality has become patchy, even among pre-Covid top-tier brand names.
“Rev up your engines!”
Good list of youtubers from the both of you. If you’re a Toyota owner, the Car Care Nut is practically mandatory viewing, very good channel. His shop, TCCN Automotive, is in the Chicago area. Kilmer is a legend, partly because he’s one of the first youtube-type mechanic channels, partly for the meme-worthy clickbaity algo headlines he sometimes goes with (I don’t know how many times he’s died by now), and partly because he’s an old-timer mechanic that trusts his experiences rather than what the auto manufacturers might say. If something is crap, Scotty will say so.
To add to your suggestions, I would put in:
ChrisFix: This guys is all about the step by step process, ie: “how to replace your driveshaft”, “how to replace your radiator”, etc. He tries to cover all the bases in his videos, and is great to watch before you try something yourself so you get a general idea of what to expect. Highly recommended for any DIYers out there.
EricTheCarGuy: If you’re a Honda driver, this channel is for you. Eric is a long time Honda specialist and many of his videos are jobs on Honda’s and Acura’s. His videos are all in the same step by step format as Chrisfix.
driving 4 answers: not repair related but general automotive and engine technology videos. This guy’s channel focuses on the general technology behind automotive, he does entertaining videos for the layman on topics like the differences between forged, cast, and hypereutectic pistons, horsepower vs torque, aluminum vs iron engine blocks, the difference between a cross-plane and flat-plane v8, and more of that kind of thing. Very informative and fun stuff for gearheads out there.
“China isn’t “vying” for anything. The U.S. already gave up the AI crown…”
Cool. Let someone else take the lead in what can also be a big social experiment. No objections here.
However, US financial insanity around it has to be handled.
China, being a producer, makes AI an open source tool for anyone to use as they find helpful. In the US, AI is being deployed by the largest tech firms looking for juicy software rents, mainly as an advertising/surveillance tool. Not really the same game.
China is very interested in surveillance and information control. And they have plenty of e-commerce fintech and advertising.
Lots of the same game.
I guess people were imagining the way China handled the pandemic.
There may be open source uses …but the other uses are not being overlooked.
‘Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺
@ejmalrai
Brilliant diplomacy! Iran has internalised the hard lessons of past negotiations.
In a firm and unapologetic statement, Foreign Minister @araghchi declared that U.S. presidential envoy @SteveWitkoff has requested a meeting—but that Tehran will only consider talks under two non-negotiable conditions: first, that Washington compensates Iran for the damage caused by its attacks on nuclear facilities; and second, that it recognises Iran’s sovereign right to enrich uranium on its own soil.’
Turns out that Trump’s idea of copying the Japanese and attacking in the middle of negotiations was not a winner after all. Come to think of it, it wasn’t a winning idea for the Japanese either. I have read that where Iran mentions compensation for the damage caused by the US, that this is a way to demand that the US return to Iran all the billions that were seized from them years ago. If Iran is sounding confident, it may have to do with all those trainloads of military equipment that they have been receiving from China lately and whatever the Russians have done for them.
I believe that rather than confident the correct expression is fed up with. They know this comes with risks but complying with US and/or CW rules based order only brings forced misery to the end of times so the risk is worth taking.
I would say that Iranian confidence comes from surviving the attack, and giving the enemy a bloody nose. There was a rise in confidence in Russia after the inital shock of SMO and hybrid attack of the Collective West, after it turned out that Russia is doing just fine in spite of everything.
Instead of electric sheep, does the autonomous Waymo vehicles dream of their very own EV charger that belongs to them and they likewise to the EV charger??? \Sarc
sweet fancy Moses. And these designs, or rather long pursued theories are now in practice, and are from broadly the same strata of superlative engineers employed to launch AI onto the face of humanity? Oh well I will trust their judgement of what they wanna accomplish in life….not so much.
I heard a long time ago that these EV cars are so silent, that they were thinking of adding sounds to them so pedestrians will not be caught unaware. So maybe with these Waymo vehicles that when they have an accident like this, they could give out a very distinct ‘Do’h!’ sound.
They are distressingly silent. I live in San Francisco, where they are rampant, and I am terrified of them. Silent electric engine, no human driver but all the steering wheel kit in the car for nobody present. They make a distinctive soft whirring noise from all the sensors but in heavy traffic you can’t hear them at all. When I walk to my corner bakery, up a side street that seems to be favored by them, there is often a line of them heading somewhere, empty. I hate them and find them creepy. I’ve never ridden in one.
EVs do produce a sound you can learn to recognize. I speak from experience, a majority of cars in my neighborhood are Teslas or Rivians. No doubt harder to pick up on in a noisy city center.
E-bikes, on the other hand, you have to keep a look out for. They are virtually silent.
The sound that you hear from EVs and hybrid vehicles is actually mandated by law, there’s a noisemaking device installed that makes some noise at speeds below a certain level. These laws came about precisely because of this “silently moving vehicle” problem.
Wikipedia “Electric Vehicle Warning Sounds”:
Even still, I find them too quiet most of the time as a pedestrian, you really gotta pay attention anywhere there are a lot of them whirring around at low speeds.
I’ve noticed Toyota hybrids now make a weird sound when backing up. I’m not sure if this is mechanical or a sound effect.
Of course bikes are silent whether they have a motor or not and this can be a problem on city exercise trails where the foot bourne like to step out in front of you. I may add one of those playing card spoke motors like we had as kids. It get’s old saying ‘on your left’ all the time.
The Toyota sound you hear is a sound effect. They also make this sound when traveling below ~5 mph. Many call it a “space ship” sound. Safety feature.
Yes, it is a metallic whirring sound, as if two metal discs were rotating in the same plane and slightly brushing the other while rotating in opposite directions.
My ebike has a belt-drive motor and is indecipherable; but that’s why it has a bell to warn others ;)
Is there some sort of extremely annoying alarm, distinct from other very important and useful alarms and warnings — such as the backing signal from trucks, or ambulance sirens, or police, or fire sirens? If so, it should be used to signal the presence of Tesla vehicles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNnRGtVkr6E&t=18s
Josh Hawley versus DJT on the former’s proposed legislation on stock trading by sitting Congress critters and US elected officials. They want to continue their “inside yet quasi okay cheating” methods, and the banquet of stock trades and “well timed” options trades must not be hindered or condemned! These US Senators all have families to feed, will no one think of their great grandchildren? ( mild sarcasm yes ).
Below is but a short list. I really can’t stand to watch or to hear anything that Rick Scott has to say. But they who own the gold have always set the rules in a manner suited to their interests, am I right ?
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/041516/who-are-americas-7richest-senators.asp
And, whoop, there it is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/world/asia/india-russia-oil-trump-threats.html
Will TACO redirect the 2 nuke subs to the Bay of Bengal?
Wouldn’t be the first time. Back in ’71 Nixon sent the USS Enterprise Task Force against India as did the Brits to pressure them in a war they were fighting. But back then the Russians put themselves in between and stopped them so Nixon backed off-
https://www.reddit.com/r/IndiaSpeaks/comments/t1493t/remembering_1971_when_the_us_threatened_india/
I’m sure this will work swimmingly. Maybe if we all close our eyes, China will just disappear and Europe will have all of their colonies back. Who knows, maybe Britannia might just rule the waves again as well.
With this gone, what economic indicators are even remotely reliable anymore? Might have better results with astrology and tarot.
Gee, I wonder if it was planned this way. What us peons don’t know won’t hurt us, will it? Part of the unpublished portion of the Project 25 dossier?
I don’t think just closing our eyes is going to do the trick. We also need to stick our fingers in our ears, shout “la-la-la-la-la” as loudly as we can, and stamp our feet. Seems to work for Donny J.
Full bore USSR as Yves points out. Stalin didn’t like that Mendelian genetics pointed out uncomfortable facts about humanity having no control (at the time) over evolution and banned it, instead promoting the fraud Lysenko who was a Lamarckist. The USSR was years ahead of the world in genetics research and especially virology. A disgusting event of the 20th century.
Not a Trumper, but I’d think about firing this person too. Not for this month’s numbers, but for the downward revisions to the prior two month. Something like 250k downward.. from ~150k down to ~25k… Big oopsie. But yeah, let make it all about Trump, not the bad numbers.
Really…you have to read the whole post about the captured British forces in Ukraine.
It goes from James Bond adventure to Monty Python skit:
“…Representatives of the British Foreign Office turned to the Russian Ministry of Defense with a request to return the British officers who had “lost their way” to Ukrainian territory. The official version from London: the detained officers were heading to Ukraine for tourist purposes and accidentally ended up in Ochakov. They were probably interested in naval history and wanted to visit the coast where battles took place during World War II.
However, the detainees were not found with beach towels or cameras, but with maps with strategic objects on Russian territory, plans of Russian air defense, secret instructions for interaction with Ukrainian drone operators, as well as disks with encrypted data and records of negotiations with the British General Staff. Quite unusual propriety for tourists…”
If there’s any truth in it. I can find no record of a British protest, or even a statement. Nor can I find anything even in the English-language Ukrainian or Russian media. Obviously, military officers wouldn’t be allowed to travel as tourists in that region and, if they were in uniform they have a recognised status under international humanitarian law.
Well then…Monty Python skit is still apt.
If this actually happened, I think that that recognised status would be as active belligerents in a war zone under the full authority of the UK government. That is not a good thing and as far as the Russians are concerned, that made them fair game. There may not be UK government protests or statements but when you think about it, nor has there been for any of the active UK military personnel that have been killed in the Ukraine either over the past three years.
“If there’s any truth in it, I can find no record of a British protest…”
And because a government is silent that is supposed to mean that something didn’t happen?
Well if the story says they protested and there is no evidence at all that they did … two and two generally make four.
This is Twitter accounts working off Russian Telegram accounts. Could be “lost in translation” and/or telephone effect.
Alleged “contact through unofficial channels”…don’t think that would mean they make a public statement.
the video in the substack article has content that *reek* of being created by generative AI.
Willing to bet 100 quid that this is LARPing by a rando.
however determining what is AI-created content will be impossible in the near future, barring some form of universal watermarking of media—which obviously has its thorns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A7Leaq1R-s as an allegory, a video essay on “the Star Wars “Biggs Edit” isn’t just a contentious question of Star Wars arcana, but an example of some of the problems historians face trying to reconstruct the past. Problems that are only going to get worse in the age of AI.”
Accusing something of being AI when you have no proof is Making Shit Up.
Peacemaker is an established account. Several other established Twitter accounts cited multiple Russian Telegram channels.
If anything, this is a Russian disinfo operation.
Oh I agree. Very probably Russian disinformation
I do not find it implausible. I certainly would not discount its being made up.
I think this is disinfo. A development from previous news which probably hold truth from about two months ago “British mercenaries who trained Kiev’s forces in maritime sabotage eliminated in Ochakov” using drones. Tass.
Brits have set up shop in Ochakov before the SMO, as a part of their (very) long term effort to push Russians out of the Black Sea. Even Politico wrote about it being part of NATO’s encroachment, and tried hard to deny it. (February 24, 2022)
https://www.politico.eu/article/naval-base-drew-putins-wrath-then-russian-fire/
Once the facilites became a target, I assume that important foreign personnel was moved out of harm’s way.
P.S. The article you linked says 30 Jan 2023, so not exactly from about two months ago. :)
The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and of the AI in the watching. The video is run-of-the-mill AI slop made only to accompany narration, and attract more attention (which it did). I would say that the only one Making Shit Up is the original author of this short commando spec-op thriller. Everyone else on Telegram/Twitter was just uncritically copy-pasting in an eternal quest for the views and likes. Russia does not need disinfo operation like this, but Russian influencers (that Matryanov “loves” so much) need those views and likes and subsribes.
P.S. Thumbs up for the skeptical commetariat here, not counting Aurelien of course, because his job is to deny everything anyway. Thumbs down for Star Wars, because it’s worse than AI slop.
sorry for potentially disgressing as I sometimes do:
While the question of AI is an important one, with film/video the context is paramount by which I mean:
their level of truth lies outside of themselves.
Images as a medium have been subject to fraud since their existence. As they operate on different epistemic levels than text or written data their role and functioning is a different one.
(Would anybody talk about truth within a musical piece? Or a poem?)
Just by cropping a real image it is possible to completely change its message and quality.
For instance that famous example of a mother with her daughter without and then in the original frame with a Yellow Star.
So what is truth with image? It is not of absolute nature.
A sunset can look a million ways. The solution to physical questions or mathematical problems usually not.
An older film example is Orson Welles´s “F for Fake” – which today would be called mockumentary (a horrible term.)
The film tells the fake story about a forger forging a book about a forged story and the art market (if I recall correctly)
For those interested:
F for Fake Orson Welles (1973)
88 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C2nt72h0cQ
A short analysis, helpful if you have limited time:
How Orson Welles lies and tells the truth: F for Fake Analysis and Explanation (2024)
9 min.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4zEARm0cto
Does it matter if it´s true or not? Not really. The questions on its veracity are different.
They are emotional, aesthetic, may be political, but not factual or scientific, and certainly not legal.
It is not without reason that this relationship was one of the major battlefields during French nouvel vague and above all the films of Jean-Luc Godard. A picture with a text attached changes both, the picture and the text was one of his most popular insights.
Eventually in the current war, video is no proof for anything. And it doesn’t matter.
Since the questions which matter are debated and assessed on the non-visual level.
Whether or not the men in the Russian video e.g. are who we think they are is not decided through a video which we are shown.
The only safe bet is quoting official written documents in such a video that confirm the identity. But then the video images are merely illustrative. i.e. You can as well leave them out. Which is why such pieces often reveal more about the creators than the subjects.
Of course all this most likely sounds insane in a world where everything is brought to us as video and millions of versions of the same events.
Has there been any confirmation of this? Russians usually provide videos of captured foreign combatants in the service of Ukraine being interrogated or arraigned, but I am not aware of any such video having been published.
This story reminds me of that rumour of a general from the USA having been killed in Mariupol early in the war. I rather classify such “news” as rumour or propaganda.
It reminded me of the story of Germans captured in a Leopard 2 tank. I already pressed X to doubt.
These aren’t any ordinary foreign combatants. It would likely benefit both sides to keep it hush-hush in the public eye, so as not to inflame the worst actors on both sides.
Parading prisoners of war around Red Square isn’t Putin’s style, either. Maybe Prigozhin would have done it …
One of the captured British officers wore the insignia of both colonel and sergeant. Another wore a peaked cap without a peak. The use of AI-generated images in the news significantly undermines its credibility.
I didn’t check for a video. I mainly thought I had some humor with a morning cup of coffee.
Nah, you have not thought this through.
Remember Dan Rather? The underlying fact set he presented was true, that Bush’s Air Force flight records overstated his actual flying time and he had actually not done the required minimum.
But Rather was given fabricated documents and made them the centerpiece of his story.
When that was revealed, it was all about the fabricated documents, which also ended Rather’s career. And it was assumed because the docs were fake, the information was false, when the latter was not the case.
So say this story is real or a Russian psyops.
What better way to discredit it than to sucker some Telegrammers or Twitterati into circulating clearly fake pix with it?
The only way we’ll know if it’s true is if in 6 to 24 months, the UK is trying to bargain for an exchange of either of the named guys.
“Czech fatigue with Ukrainian refugees grows amid economic concerns”
As soon as this war is over, there will be a lot of fatigue with Ukrainian refugees with the new refrain ‘Are you still here? Go home.’ The Ukraine, having served it purpose, will be dropped by most western countries and governments will start talking about the need to return those refugees so that they can ‘rebuild’ their country. It will be as cynical as it will be rapid.
Trump fires US labour statistics boss after weak jobs report – Financial Times. “Lead story. Full bore Trump insanity takes US official into late-stage USSR.”
Not the only country that rewards good reports to the central government.
Can you imagine what it will be like when Powell finally steps aside and Trump puts in one of his yes (wo)men? One week he will order the interest rates to go up but halfway through the week he changes his mind and orders that they go down.The one day decides that they need to go way low and says that he will give the US economy two weeks while he makes up his mind. It will be a roller coaster. Wheeee!!
I’ve read before in some financial press that interest rate cuts can also come just before a stock market downturn.
But with the reports about market manipulation going on with announcements, just expect the roller coaster. That’s about right.
Trump is a real estate developer, and his pal currently at FHA is also a real estate mogul from Pulte Homes no less. Lower interest rates means the spices flow, in this instance mortgage rates lowered than where they currently stand. I can make a 50/50 case for the Federal Reserve to begin an easing cycle but it was pretty atypical for the timing of their two moves late in 2024. Either way, the future is hard to predict and all.
Added, it’s already a rollercoaster to be fair. Hope it’s not repeating that infamous “Enron” rollercoaster ride from the Simpsons (!). Heck we might get a “real Montgomery Burns” type running the show at the marble palace of our Federal Reserve next year !
The whole shebang will start acting like Erie Railroad stock under the direction of Drew, Gould, and Fisk.
Powell term as chair expires Feb2026. His seat a board member goes to 2028.
In my view the push to lower rates is wrong headed.
Trump or his advisers a still cross bc the Fed went off ZIRP during the first term.
Killing the messenger is a time honored way to ward off bad news.
– ‘Finally, the Dam Shoring Up Support for Israel Seems to Be Breaking’ – New Republic (resilc)
I haven’t taken The New Republic seriously since it was hijacked by Martin Peretz half a century ago. But since the title intrigued me I did read this piece. Very good. I don’t know how relevant TNR is today, but it is definitely not Marty Peretz’ neocon rag anymore.
This actually made me curious as to what happened to Paretz. To my surprise he is still living. To my complete lack of surprise he has remained an ardent Zionist to the end. I found this article to be informative. I would have found it pitifully humorous had I been able to see anything funny in defending genocide.
https://jewishcurrents.org/the-end-of-the-marty-peretz-era
Call me cynical, but I think a lot of these sort of articles and comments from people like Senator Sanders are themselves cynical posturing intended to provide later cover, when they judge it too late to make any difference.
He brought in two other owners in the 2000s. No idea what happened after that.
Of the many potential reasons I might have guessed would have caused a bit of a kerfuffle with my spousal unit this morning, stating that I was no longer planning to travel with her to Portugal next year due to the EU requiring my biometric information for entry was not on my list.
While I would advise that this may not restore peace and harmony, you could show her the fredrick douglass quote…
Good for you. Refusing to participate is a good step. That’s what Rosa Parks did. Imagine if all potential passengers refused to fly due to theft of their biometric information. Something would change.
dougie: Go to Portugal. Everyone I know who has been there praises the Portuguese and their cookery. And you may pick up a song of fado or two, so as to enchant the spousal unit.
The deadline given in the article is the end of August 2026. The Portuguese, who are notoriously cool and level-headed, are likely to, ohhhh, miss a deadline.
It may help to bend the regs by taking a non-U.S. airline. I find that the U.S. airlines are a tad too interested in enforcing rules. The Portuguese national carrier, which, I believe, is TAP, may be the easiest in this regard.
Yes, the biometric stuff is the usual absurdity coming out of Brussels, but when you arrive in Portugal, you aren’t going to find a police state.
“The deadline given in the article is the end of August 2026. The Portuguese, who are notoriously cool and level-headed, are likely to, ohhhh, miss a deadline.”
I doubt it, because the measure applies primarily to the Schengen area and not the EU as such — and this means that at every “external” frontier of the countries members of the Schengen area — and international airports and harbours count as such — border controls must be implemented uniformly. Remember that once you are in a Schengen country you can travel basically without further controls to other Schengen countries (although this principle has been getting frayed in the past few years).
It also means that you will face the same procedure in the future should you want to travel to Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, or Liechtenstein, and you come from outside the Schengen area.
I got this close to buying a Portuguese guitar in Porto in July last year. This → ← close. I have the shop’s flyer still on my desk with the price of the model I wanted and of the hard shell case. I regret that near miss frequently.
For your aural and visual enjoyment
Marta Pereira da Costa: Tiny Desk Concert
NPR Music channel at youtube
This in addition to disliking airplane rides greater then 45 minutes confirms my expectations that I won’t see the E.U. again.
Re: The rise of Luigism
After decades of class warfare and the capture of both political parties by the financial classes, this article sounds surprised and has such anger and disdain! It was ok to let people die because they couldn’t afford food, housing, or medical care. But if you *dare* push back you are vile and evil!
Oh and the writer is a paid pollster for the Republican party and works for the Manhattan Institute. I am sure he is busy justifying burning more pollutants like coal and oil, and how abortion bans are good for society at this very moment.
In addition to the author’s apparent blind spot, the sense I get from being Judgy McJudgeface in my home state of Bumphuc Flyover Trumpeter White Christian Nationalist Last Redoubt is this:
There may be resistance and a ‘revolt’ against the monied class, but it will be layered with an uncivil war foisted by silencer-equipped assault rifle ‘true’ bible-toting “Patriots” against woke Others.
Shocked- but in retrospect not surprised— legendary local storied hook and bullet sporting goods store (The Powderhorn) has gone to specializing in silenced assault rifles- hard to find a traditional sport rifle or shotgun.
What Would Jezus Carry? WWJC?
My two bereft-of-copper alloy-laden endangered pennies.
“silenced assault rifles”
I’m all for them. It would make it easier to sleep at night here in my neighborhood. /sarc
The irony of the “Patriots” In flyover country defending against woke others, while the people who control us live in non-defensible positions like the Hamptons, is totally lost on our society.
I was under the impression that silencers are illegal and only used in spy films from the 60’s.
Real-world silencers turn a “BANG!!!” into a “Bang!” The only benefit is less hearing-loss for the shooter. Nice for hunters or range practice, nothing more. The mythical silent bullet that kills from 300 yards is a Hollywood invention.
I think there was recently some court ruling that cut back the ATF from overregulating silencers. The tacticool don’t-tread-on-me types are probably just loading up before a counter-ruling makes them illegal again. I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it either way.
Hollywood invention, and Russian one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Val_and_VSS_Vintorez
<"I was under the impression that silencers are illegal"
"silencers" (which, contrary to movies do not make firearms silent) are regulated as "firearms" under the 1934 National Firearms Act and recodified as Title II of the 1968 Gun Control Act.
As NFA "firearms" they are subject to making and transfer taxes, mandatory serial numbers, and registration by the BATFE. Transfer tax is $200 except for the "any other weapon" category $5. I guess the OBBB dropped the tax to 0 for silencers but the provision to remove them from the "firearm" definition was stripped in the Senate due to the parliamentarian.
In the past for various regulatory reasons it was often an advantage to create a trust and transfer the silencer to the trust rather than to an individual.
State laws vary on the legality of NFA "firearms". You have to submit a copy of your ATF Form-4 to your "chief law enforcement official" (typically a county sheriff).
thankfully, i inherited all the guns i have, or have access to.
Bill of Rights Absolutist, here.
save for random ammo purchases, theres nothing indicating what kind of armaments i possess.
as it should be.
know yer farmer.
Yep. Farmers have legitimate uses for firearms. Varmints, like coyotes and PETA Commandos can decimate a herd of aminalz right quick. “Silencers” on long-guns are useful for ‘culling’ varmints at medium range. The low noise limits the “scare off” factor. Coyotes and feral pigs often run in groups and bagging several at one go is optimal for herd protection and farm maintenance.
You should know about feral pigs, being where you are. Have no mercy. Feral pigs will eat literally anything, animal or vegetable. A sounder of wild pigs will ruin a farmer’s day fast.
Stay safe out there.
If you purchase random ammo, you might have problems firing it from the guns you have, unless you have all the guns. :)
Assault rifles, and other fully automatic firearms, were banned in 1986.
https://thegunzone.com/when-were-fully-automatic-firearms-banned-in-the-us/
P.S. A semi automatic rifle is not an assault rifle, even if you assault someone with it, because military terminology is not law terminology. In a similar vein, artillery battery is not the same as battery in law.
Am I just not reading enough news sites, or has there been a massive radio silence on Luigi for months? And speaking of radio silence, do we know any more about the Trump assassins and their motives than we did right after the first one got killed and the second one arrested? I’m surprise that there hasn’t been a blue ribbon commission set up to investigate those assassination attempts (not).
No, you will not hear anything about Luigi except maybe at Reddit and some law circles. The owners do not want this covered. A society can be judged by what it chooses not to discuss.
And anyone else who kills a high powered person will be labeled as a crazy person and terrorist. And that will be all.
Ultimately, this is a smear piece against Mamdini. And, of course, as Yves notes, the author does not get it. Then I checked his background. Among the list of publications he has written for is The Jerusalem Post, and he studied at the University of Tel Aviv. Somewhat of a tell, per chance? Melanie Phillips, an utterly unhinged Zionist columnist on the Times (London), who claims photographs of severely emaciate children in Gaza are fakes, is horrified that 17 percent of Jews voted for Mamdini. She commented on this on X namely:
“Zohran Mamdani leads among Jewish voters by a 17-point margin in the race to become New York City’s next mayor. Mamdani, a Shia “Twelver” Islamist, will bankrupt and Islamise New York and pose a threat to its Jewish community. With their Pavlovian reflex to support the Democratic party and its anti-west, anti-white, anti-Jewish ideological dogmas, it was entirely predictable that before long these US Jews would themselves become a threat to the Jewish people. That moment has arrived.
Phillips is barking mad, but amazingly given a very prominent platform on various media in Britain. Her husband was formerly the BBC Legal Correspondent for many years and a columnist on the Daily Telegraph, both media very Zionist friendly to say the least.
For now, I would chalk the silence around Luigi and and the 2nd Trump assassination to court cases being prepared. For now. But the hush around the1st assassination attempt is, with a nod to Harry Shearer and Spinal Tap friends, almost deafening. Nobody has any interest in this shooter? Not even Trump? It’s enough to make me think Bill Hicks was on to something .
https://x.com/mazzenilsson/status/1951495741941133541
The U.S. Department of Justice has introduced classified evidence (on Ukrainian involvement?) in the case against Ryan Routh; the man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump.
Judge Aileen Cannon sealed the materials, stating they could cause “exceptionally grave damage” to U.S. national security if made public.
Wow! We should all be grateful to Blackstone for lowering rents and fighting racism.
Forgetting that this was clearly designed as a hit piece against Mamdami, Cory Doctorow’s coverage of this sort of thing was covered in Medium months ago.
https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2024-12-09-radicalized-deny-defend-depose-e2f2326f2b31
In this article he also links to a short story he wrote in 2019 about how people can easily become radicalized, rightly or wrongly. I happened to have read it in a book of short stories he recently published and my first thought, as well as Mr. Doctorow’s, was why did this take so long to happen.
The short story, by the way, is excellent and published at The American Prospect
https://prospect.org/culture/books/2024-12-09-radicalized-cory-doctorow-story-health-care/
That’s a brilliant short story by Doctorow, thank you for posting. Impressive that he wrote this way back in 2019, long before Luigi did his thing. Prescient and disturbing.
And now, a brief message from The Onion:
https://theonion.com/violence-is-it-the-answer-1819565020/
BettBeat: Half a Million Dead.
Karim is not mincing words: ‘The West’s moral bankruptcy extends even to its supposed progressives, who cling to the rotting corpse of the “two-state solution” like shipwreck survivors clutching driftwood. Every few months, some European diplomat or American politician dusts off this diplomatic zombie, parading it before cameras as evidence of their commitment to peace. The left media, desperate for any sign of hope, breathlessly reports these empty gestures as “breakthroughs” and “renewed momentum,” when the reality is that the two-state solution has been dead for decades—murdered by settlements, annexations, checkpoints, and the simple mathematical fact that there is no viable Palestinian territory left to form a state.’
Geography, it matters. What is on offer for the Palestinian state is not viable geographically. Yes, I know, the U S of A is governed by “Don’t Know Much about History…”
May Sam Cook rest in peace:
Don’t know much about geography
Don’t know much trigonometry
Don’t know much about algebra
Don’t know what a slide rule is for
See also Moon of Alabama and the long extract from Hala Jaber.
What is to be done, comrades?
It’s, errrr, funny how no one is talking about how the West Bank settlements are illegal, just as no one is talking about how the Ukrainian government allowed right-wing militias into the Donbass around 2014 to murder, torture, pillage, and confiscate churches.
“Don’t tell ’em Much”
Henry Moon Pie: Indeed you have rallied. Good. Your witticisms are on the mark as ever.
All the best during these quiet days of August (at least here in the Undisclosed Region, where many shops will be closing shortly for a couple weeks of well-deserved rest around Ferragosto, the ancient holiday on 15 August).
welly.
that is jess fascinating.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferragosto
Wow! That’s what a real civilization looks like.
Us, we have an overblown barbarism.
Neoliberalism = Economic Barbarism
“ChatGPT users shocked to learn their chats were in Google search results”
It was their own fault. They trusted Google.
Regarding Confusion and anger in Switzerland – hit by highest tariffs in Europe, I wonder what is happening at the BBC.
See this:
The sticking point, the Swiss government says now, is the trade deficit it has with the US.
This is not a glitch. See also this:
The Swiss trade deficit with the US was $47.4 billion in 2024, though if service industries are included, which Trump conveniently ignored, the deficit shrinks to $22 billion. Switzerland sells more (primarily in pharmaceuticals, gold jewellery, watches and machine tools) to the US than it buys.
Switzerland does not have a trade deficit with the USA, it has a trade surplus! Don’t the blokes in the BBC editing room know the meaning of words any longer, or have they already switched to AI?
By the way: this is the third time the USA screws Switzerland in recent times.
1) First came a massive increase in the price of the F-35 Switzerland ordered.
2) Then came the indefinite postponement of deliveries of Patriot systems, which Switzerland ordered 3 years ago, for which it already made down payments.
3) Now come the suprisingly high tariffs imposed on good imports from Switzerland.
Switzerland has become increasingly deferent, even subservient to the USA in the past 8 years or so. It may be time its government understood that this does not bring worthwile advantages.
Globalists are taking over Switzerland who, among other things, want Switzerland to go into NATO. For that country, it would be a really bad idea and next thing you know, there would be Swiss troops stationed along the Polish border and having to hand over all their weaponry to the Ukraine.
Originally, one of the arguments for selecting the F-35 had been to make cooperation with NATO easier — with scenarios that when published made many brows rise quite high in Switzerland (such as sending Swiss airplanes to fight in Bavaria, or to stop some invasion by unnamed forces in Czechia).
Of course, there is the wee issue that the neutrality of Switzerland has been guaranteed in perpetuity by Austria, France, Great Britain, Portugal, and Prussia, as well as Russia.
Thank you.
This week, the BBC has often referred to the Mauritian cyclist Kim le Court de Billot as Mauritanian. It’s not AI. There’s a lot of ignorance AND arrogance there.
With regard to CH, I used to work there often, delegated to the Swiss Bankers’ Association, and with the diplomatic missions in London and Brussels and note, that from 2008, the US used the threat to the banking industry as a sword of Damocles.
Since you address lack of knowledge/quality checks with BBC – in Germany with public broadcasting which is among the biggest and best funded in the world quality is deteriorating very fast. I mean things like lingual skills or technical breadth: For instance sound engineers with state radio had to be able to play 2 instruments. Nobody cares about such things any more.
Those sound people were the experts e.g. doing 90 minute fiction pieces, radio plays, huge productions with the best actors who if necessary in the old era were flown in.
Nothing of this is left. So these engineers are phased out and they report about detecting zero interest in their skills by the new leadership and young generation of staff (who do “podcasts” and max. 10-minute pieces). They also say they constantly discover incorrect spelling or grammar in the editing room. So an entire culture is eradicated. And I was wondering if this is as dramatic with BBC.
Spencer Hakimian….
Certainly the tariffs are a wacky idea, but to now say your friend builds “budget homes”?
There are no budget homes.
Virtue signalling from scoundrels.
Today, “budget homes” means upgraded shipping containers.
precious little steel in a tiny home
12 Points on Zionist Occupied Territory and Epstein – Sam Husseini
“Decensored News reports: “Ghislaine Maxwell has reportedly been moved from her federal prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas. She is now ‘at the Federal Prison Camp (FPC) Bryan,’ according to The New York Sun, citing a statement they received from a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson.” This would appear to be another stage of a massive coverup. The blackmailers and apparatchiks and genociders getting each other off. And some of those who supported Trump now wonder, or pretend to wonder, how he — of all people — could break promises.”
What if we get the ultimate plot twist? Epstein was Maxwell’s assistant.
“The blackmailers and apparatchiks and genociders getting each other off.”
And knocking each other off.
Apparently she had hopes Trump would have pardoned her already. I wonder why
Meanwhile the great long after horse left barn Russiagate debunking continues. The irony is that Trump has indeed turned out to be a Manchurian Candidate only not from Manchuria (or Moscow). Ghislaine could have something to do with this.
Will the cabinet members soon be spouting, “Donald Trump is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life?” May be a hard sell.
I view Benedict Donald more as the Anchurian* Candidate, as he is really truly trying to make us into a latter day Banana Republic sans bananas, as in yes, we have no bananas.
*Anchuria is the whimsical Banana Republic that O.Henry wrote about
I think that the prison that she has been transferred to is the same one Elizabeth “Theranos” Holmes is at.
re: Metal
JACOBIN
Metal Was Born in Britain’s Urban Working Class
By Fraser Watt
Ozzy Osbourne’s working-class roots were central to the invention of heavy metal. But the world that birthed Black Sabbath is gone — and the conditions created by Britain’s postwar welfare state are long out of reach for today’s musicians.
https://jacobin.com/2025/07/britain-working-class-metal-osbourne
Likewise, here in the US around the same time, a proto-Punk band like the MC5 sounded like “a riot in an auto plant.” The members of the band, though I don’t think any of them worked in an auto factory, were imbued with the Detroit working class vibe of the time.
Kick Out the Jams (“Live at Tartar Field, 1970”) onYouTube provides a rockin’ sample…
File under CBDC and the EU:
Christine Lagarde just confirmed the European Central Bank is “accelerating the pace” on the rollout of the Digital Euro — with full deployment targeted for October 2025. 🇪🇺
🧠 Why the rush?
Because Agenda 2030 can’t be enforced without CBDCs —
🔐 Programmable money
🚫 Purchase controls
📍 Full traceability
👁️ Centralized surveillance
💥 But here’s the truth:
🚫 It’s not law yet.
🚫 It’s not finalized.
They still need parliaments across Europe to pass enabling legislation.
This is the window to resist.
https://x.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1951190664194171030
The Texas Economy Ain’t All That – Bloomberg
In short: the same problems plaguing economies all over the world.
RE: Is the regional Zionist Project going to include occupation of Cyprus?
While no numbers are given, the article claims that ‘”Israelis are buying” everything’, and that these are the Zionists. This is similar to what I heard on Crete earlier this year with locals worrying that all the Israelis buying property would turn the area into a little Israel. On Crete, I’d wondered whether it was maybe humane Jewish people trying to get away from the madness in Israel who were buying, or if it was Zionists. I still don’t know, but it’s increasingly seeming like it’s Zionists looking to create footholds outside of Israel proper.
Greece has wanted the Turks out of Cyprus for decades. I was in Greece in 1991 when Poppy Bush visited, and the Greeks then wanted to know what the US was going to do about the Cyprus problem. “Nothing” was apparently the answer then. If the Greek government thinks it can get the US to act now by teaming up with its Zionist attack dog, that is just insanity. Zionism must be crushed, not aided and abetted. Allowing the scorpion on board generally doesn’t turn out well.
On Crete, I’d wondered whether it was maybe humane Jewish people trying to get away from the madness in Israel who were buying, or if it was Zionists. I still don’t know, but it’s increasingly seeming like it’s Zionists looking to create footholds outside of Israel proper.
I’m neither Jewish, Israeli or Zionist, but I have had a string of Jewish partners for a couple of decades and currently work in a company that has a very large Israeli team that I spend the majority of my work time with. So I’m not claiming to speak for anyone else but myself here. But there is a dynamic I’ve observed among the Israelis that resembles solidarity – nobody would publicly speak up first about doubting the Zionist project (even if they are open about hating Netanyahu and thinking he is destroying the country), nobody would be the first to say ‘hey guys maybe we should consider evacuating now during a lull in the violence while we can still get out’ (even if they say it indirectly, like a gay colleague ‘joking’ about his husband ‘being hysteric’ and saying they need to immigrate since the 12 day war). I’ve asked many of them, especially the more sane-seeming ones, if they’ve considered leaving since all that I’ve talked to have second passports to Europe or the US. And to me, an outsider (albeit one perceived as ‘good’ since they know my partner is Jewish and that I’m neither Christian nor Arab) they will boastfully say never. They’re not leaving, they claim, with that Israeli arrogance. Israel is their home.
However. I don’t believe them. :) I think the same dynamic that makes them prone to poor group behavior when abroad and high tolerance of violence in their own country and shrugging off of the atrocities they know their kids and neighbors are committing against the Palestinians is related to their casual willingness to bribe their way out of tight situations and admit to how they travel with two passports and a thousand dollars and a thousand euros in cash wherever, ‘just in case’, along with some reference to a grandparent in Poland during the early 1940s as a rationale – it’s all related to a deep-seated paranoia, what psychologists used to call ‘splitting’ behaviors – they know they’re on shaky ground now. They’re paving the exit path. When the travel bans have gone in the last few times there were a few days of warning while the airlines were notified. In those days you could still get to Cyprus or Greece directly. After the airports are closed they can get to Egypt overland and from there it’s cheap and easy to get to Cyprus and Greece. This is critical if you have a mentality that you might need to ‘escape’ with nothing but a small bag and your everyday carry. And if nothing happens, well – now it’s a weekend/vacation house. The beaches on Crete are lovely.
I don’t think the Zionist settlers will occupy Cyprus. The settlers are a financial endeavor backed by Israeli Zionist oligarchs with the backing of the Israeli state, a lot of them are cowardly upper middle class Americans who want to feel tough and that’s a lot easier when they have the full backing of the Israeli police and IOF/IDF forces going against impoverished Palestinian villagers. Sending those people in to occupy nice vacation villas in Cyprus would put the exit plans of the well-heeled Israelis who are preparing their ‘just in case’ homes at risk. Same for Crete (and elsewhere in Greece). Both countries have easy visa options through real estate. Israeli real estate prices are wildly overvalued. I believe after the 12 days and seeing residential blocks obliterated many are quietly selling investment properties and rolling the cash over into visa properties so they can get out before the next round.
Having read the Beeley piece now though I realize she’s not saying it’s the settlers, but closed communities + SIGINT/adversarial hacking work vs Turkey via North Cyprus. I can accept that Israeli business interests are buying up residential property with the intention of creating closed communities and those communities will have yeshiva and other religious school. I can also accept that Jewish Agency and the Zionist state associated agencies would be taking an interest in those communities on Cyprus because as she says in the piece, they have to ensure the IDF conscripts from those communities show up when they turn 18. I don’t know about million dollar salaries for 8200 members directly translating to adversarial operations against Turkiye because of Akkuyu with the assist of UAE, though. For one the majority of 8200 is 18/19 year olds and I can assure you none of them are getting those salaries so it would have to be the career officers in the unit and they’re notorious about not being public as to who their commanders and officers are. So I’d want to see more about how she’s making that connection.
My feel on the whole Israel-Turkiye-Greece conflict in the Cyprus area is more that it is related to ownership of the gas fields (as I understand it all three countries ex-Palestine have claims on the field and distribution rights and there have been ongoing disputes in the past few years over who builds and operates the pipeline(s) from it to Europe). If this is the case then Israel playing “let’s you and him fight” with Greece and Turkiye makes sense in North Cyprus since it is a point of weakness for Turkiye and Israel could conceivably offer Greece and Cyprus military assistance under the right conditions.
>>>My feel on the whole Israel-Turkiye-Greece conflict in the Cyprus area is more that it is related to ownership of the gas fields (as I understand it all three countries ex-Palestine have claims on the field and distribution rights and there have been ongoing disputes in the past few years over who builds and operates the pipeline(s) from it to Europe).
A reason for destroying Gaza is to get clear ownership of the Mediterranean gas fields that Gaza technically owns. I say technically because Israel has blocked all attempts to extract and sell the gas by the Gazan government.
Interesting. Of course one of the original Zionist targets was Argentina (which has a large Jewish population) rather than Palestine so perhaps the often secular Zionists only picked the latter for promotional purposes and because some Brits and 19th cent Christian sects wanted it. Now that we live in a cyber world perhaps a virtual holy land will serve and Crete or Cyprus could do the job.
In any case decades on it seems hard to argue that making Jews into a country is somehow ensuring their safety. Countries after all have politicians and they are never to be trusted. Alastair Crooke has been arguing that Israel is as likely to collapse from civil war rather than the other kind.
Last year around the time of the fall of Syria, I posted a brief comment wondering about Cyprus.
I was looking at maps, trying to visualize the action and Cyprus caught my eye….hanging out there off the coast.
The large number of high temperature readings around the world is one of the reasons I don’t worry too much about AI. The “industrialized” nations will be soon reaching a point that they can have AI, or some semblance of a society. And as much as the elites would love to do away with everyone else, they are not close enough to where society could collapse and not affect them as well.
So much worry about AI when the focus should be more about staying alive.
You’re such an optimist! Things are pretty crazy when the good news in the fact that society’s teetering on the brink is that AI won’t have long enough to develop to the point it can kill us. I make the same point about an economic collapse being the one thing that might allow the Earth to find a new equilibrium not too different from the Holocene. We’re in a time of gallows humor.
50% of Internet traffic is now bots:
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/1mf4dg9/its_only_going_to_get_worse/#lightbox
I agree that this is a self-correcting problem. There is no physical way that all these data centers the techlords are planning pencil out. The math and physics will win, as always.
There is that quip that “one-half the money I spend for advertising is wasted, but I have never been able to decide which half.”
If half the traffic is generated by bots, will that make the advertisers’ conundrum harder or, paradoxically, easier?
“Trump Escalates Nuclear Threat to Russia… Taking the World to the Brink of Nuclear War”
This is just Trump trying to rattle the Russians so that he can force them to agree to a full ceasefire when that deadline runs out in about a week’s time. He must know by now that he has no leverage against the Russians and they won’t be bullied which is why he is threatening its allies. Nuclear threats should be the very last thing that any responsible politician does but I do not think that Trump understands that. To him, it is just another negotiating tactic with no consequence to him. Hate to say it but expect a lot more from Trump along these lines as that deadline runs down. Zelensky is not the only one stressed out and in a panic right now. What is worse is Trump’s part in the Israel-Iran war which showed conclusively that you cannot deal with Trump and negotiate in good faith, nor will he keep any agreements. He is agreement-incapable.
Thus Iran is demanding some serious trust-building acts before commencing any new negotiations.
“This is just Trump trying to rattle the Russians so that he can force them to agree to a full ceasefire…”
I am not sure I agree with this, although I am also not sure if I can offer a more definitive explanation of Trump’s objective, or whom he was directing the statements towards.
From his Truth Social post:
“I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions…”
There is some vagueness here: we do not what “to be positioned” means (they will each move a half knot “left”?), we don’t know what “the appropriate regions” means precisely, we do not know when. Maybe they are already in what would meaningfully be referred to as “the appropriate regions”.
From Newsmax (via TASS):
“They are closer to Russia, I assume,” the US leader said.
“We always want to be ready. And so I have sent to the region two nuclear submarines,” he added.
This appears to be a little less ambiguous (“to the region” means they were outside “the region”, wherever that “region” might be); but then we have “I assume” — what is the assumption? I have issued an order but don’t know precisely what it entails? As in, “Just kind of move the boats around, you know, [hand gesture], like that, somewhere, but don’t tell me exactly, I don’t wanna know.”
If I had a guess, this was either pandering to Republican hawks or Trump simply employing his tough guy persona and attempting to get the last word in vis-a-vis his social media micturation competition with Medvedev.
The Kremlin seems to have just shrugged this off. The only statement I have seen is actually out of a Duma rep:
“There are significantly more our [nuclear] submarines in the world’s oceans, [and they] have the strongest, most powerful weapons. This is why, [we] let [Trump’s] two boats float, they have been at gunpoint for a long time.” — Viktor Vodolatsky, first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Relations with Compatriots
I have a feeling Medvedev’s shitposting is only getting started, especially if he (or whoever runs that account) realizes how completely he can get under Trump’s skin.
The vagueness is there because he made it up on the spot (just like super-hypersonic weapons, and many other things). This way no one can prove him that he is full of BS, because it is completly unverifiable. He also knows jack shit about submarines, so he could not be less vague even if he wanted to.
Putin should ask Medvedev to meet Witkoff when he visits Moscow.
This has to be for domestic consumption, and only for the midwits who think that proximity to Russia is consequential for the submarines associated with the US nuclear triad.
It’s typical Trump BS and the Russians surely know it.
A retired USMC colonel was on radio talking about sending long range weapons to Kiev so they can “bring the war to Russia”.
I was driving almost ran off the road.
Kiev is losing the battles at the front.
US missiles will be no better than Nazi German vengeance weapons.
Burning up U.S. kit is a goal of SMO.
Burning up U.S. kit is also a goal of US MIC that sponsored that retired USMC colonel. They are not idiots, and know that Russia is not a threat to them, even if USA runs out of ammo. All that spent ordnance will be replaced at premium prices. That’s a lot of money. They couldn’t care less about Chicken Kiev losing the battles at the front.
‘Spencer Hakimian
@SpencerHakimian
My friend is in the business of buying wholesale steel rebar, steel beams, steel sheets, etc. from inexpensive overseas producers and then selling it downstream to American homebuilders who build budget homes.
He got an email from his customs broker this afternoon that their order from Hanoi, Vietnam will be subject to either 50%, 70%, 110%, or 135% tariff tomorrow.’
Don’t know how small American business people are going to survive the next coupla years. There is no guarantee that the tariffs situation will ever settle down as like with sanctions, they can be levied at any time and on a personal whim. How are business people suppose to plan around that?
By making sure they have the highest bid in with the “personal whim” person!
If anyone is wondering about Trump’s tantrum over The job report, the explanation is simple.
God spared Trump’s life in Butler PA so that he could Make America Great Again, Ipso Fatso Trump’s will IS God Swill and he is thus infallible.
Those who contradict or oppose Trump’s policies are thus enemies of (All powerful) God who must be punished.
Expect more and angrier tantrums as reality refuses to conform to Trump’s desires.
The divine right of kings.
This example of Trump’s administration reminds me of an old joke about Enron. Enron’s accounting firm needed to hire another accountant. Hoping to hire the ideal candidate the human resources department required all the applicants to submit to an oral exam testing their skills. The first applicant is brought in for interview and oral exam.
Human Resources: “How much is two plus two?”
First Applicant: “Four?”
Human Resources: “Get out of here! We need an accountant, NOT an adding machine!”
The first applicant, head down, shuffles quietly out. The next applicant is brought in and asked the same question, with the same result. The next applicant is brought in and asked the same question.
Third Applicant: After stroking his chin thoughtfully, “How much do you want it to be?”
Human Resources: You’re hired. We can definitely use an accountant with your skills.
As I recall things did not work out so well for Enron and the accounting firm they hired, but Shirley Trump’s administration is nothing like Enron.
Regarding Harry Spoelstra and “C0V1D-19: A VASCULAR NIGHTMARE UNFOLDING”
I read his paper yesterday. Not one mention of why some are more at risk for this “vascular nightmare”. Great, he can talk all day about the already known mechanisms of thrombosis, but as for the cause, everyone just exclaims; “It’s C0V1D”. Well we know C0V1D increases the risk of thrombosis, but why are some people more at risk of thrombosis. Until they show the mechanism these papers are useless.
And did they learn nothing from the climate change movement? Climate Change is real, but the effects were exaggerated and collapsed into a much shorter timeline. And since it did not play out in such a dramatic “CLIMATE NIGHTMARE UNFOLDING” way, but is much more gradual, we have given the denialists all the ammunition they need.
So I would appreciate it is Mr. Spoelstra would focus on the biological mechanism of why C0V1D causes thrombosis in some people who seem to be at risk for it. I would direct him to the great 2020 paper “Nutrition, Thrombosis, and Cardiovascular Disease” by Francesco Violi , et all.
Re the article from Dr Ignacy Nowopolski – the footube video embedded in the article is crammed with AI generated images. So many obvious misspellings and totally stupid phraseology. I can’t understand the commentary (it’s in what I assume is Roosian), but if it’s as trustworthy as the images then it’s worthless.
It’s slop all the way.
SFGate reported that Mark Zuckerberg says without AI glasses, you’ll be at ‘cognitive disadvantage’ and .Tom commented, ‘Speak for yourself, Zuckwad.’
Let’s take a moment to remind ourselves of Zuckerballs glorious presentation of what nobody wanted or needed three years ago: The Metaverse, an idea so good he renamed his company after it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvufun6xer8
Surely on many a Top 10 Moments in Cringe list.
The Inside Story of Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin Wired (resilc)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Who doesn’t love a coinspiracy theory?
In the real world of numismatics, coins have value similar to diamonds, call it the 3 C’s:
Conservation: Coins that are brand new and never circulated and thus experienced no wear-are worth the most. In marked contrast the ones that were heavily used and worn out are worth bupkis.
Collectibility: In order for coins to have value-the issuing country has to have collectors, forget about trying to sell rare Bangladesh or Haitian coins-they’re aren’t any.
Conciseness: A truly rare coin will have a handful of examples known-not 21 million please. There are but 5 1913 Liberty Nickels, maybe a dozen 1804 Bust Dollars and only 1 1933 $20 Saint Gaudens $20 gold coin.
OK, this is funny:
Meet Trump’s new Commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
https://x.com/tunguz/status/1951389735278223663
An ideal option if there ever was ! I was thinking, being the cynic I am, that the BLS should employ the right type of economic experts to advise us how swell things really are. I mean this is what, two significant sets of highly downward revisions dating back to last year during the election cycle.
Baghdad Bob would be most impressed. In the vein of we can’t make this sh*t up well it really seems to be the norm for government statistics!
Assuming that she gets paid in prisoner’s wages, Donald can add the Commissioner’s salary to DOGE savings.
Win win all around.
“The copper market’s historic collapse is about how a single policy shift can puncture a carefully constructed financial illusion….
…The irony is the same policy meant to strengthen domestic manufacturing has now destabilized the pricing foundation of one of its most critical input materials.”
Who put the gun to their heads and made them gamble on copper prices?
It has more to do with speculation than helter-skelter or misguided policy – as unhelpful as the proposed policy may be
I doubt the speculation is adding anything good to well-thought out policies…the rare times those happen throughout the decades.
Same kind of twisted logic back during the 2008 crisis with the financial sector. “The government is subsidizing houses…look what it made me do with packaging mortgages.”
Some history I didn’t know, from the Library of Congress
United Copper, Wall Street, and the Panic of 1907
So I had a few thoughts today, as we deal with COVID in the family:
1) Secretary Kennedy, being a eugenicist, ought to give Ebola or HIV a shot; I’m sure he considers himself to be one of the Chosen, raw milk drinker that he is, why not take his purity of body for a real test drive? No one will miss him.
2) With Trump, scenarios that heretofore were mostly unthinkable are on the table; if Trump gains a majority of Fed governors that are loyal to him, would the Fed actually cut interest rates during stagflation? Volcker burned the working class to the ground, to combat stagflation. The dual mandate is more of a suggestion. But would a Trump Fed actually cut in stagflation. There be dragons there, to be sure.
3) A pulse oximeter only works if you stick your finger into the business end, not the other side; as crapified as products are, it turns out user-error is still possible.
Stay safe out there!
Will be funny if Stratus causes a bad outbreak in the US this winter, response from these clowns will be a tragedy.
Long term stagflation without centralised wage fixing like last time will not be the same and extended unemployment benefits might not be a given. Fed is not obligated to chase inflation with interest rates but financing the deficits will be the priority, the starting debt load is much higher.
Have you got a pulse oximeter that displays a pulse waveform, I find these more informative ?
After a Lag, Consumers Begin to Feel the Pinch of Tariffs (NY Times via archive.ph)
Welcome to Taco land!
This is so sadly comical, I literally no know one with expertise to call and ask; So I’ll shout into the void. Someone with COVID, confirmed with RAT test since 27 Jul 2025, with blood oxygen levels as low as 91-92 today, on a device I’ve tested that gives me 96-98 when used on myself; This latest 91-92 reading taken after a three hour nap by the person. Such a low reading was also taken last night for certain.
Based on what I know about COVID, in this situation, the options in the United States seem to be;
a) Do nothing
b) Call the ambulance
c) Go to the EHR
d) Go to urgent care (these are all closed here now)
e) Try to call the PCP office, if reachable, and talk to a nurse or the doctor if possible
But my exultations have been rebuffed on this. Might be overreacting. Far enough outside of this that I don’t have every single detail.
I recognize that no one on the Internet can give medical advice, so this is just a hypothetical scenario.
I’d hate to do nothing at all, and wonder about it for the rest of my time on this earth.
Thanks.
Notable that the author of this piece blatantly tries to use the fact that one of the shooting victims was Jewish as some kind of enhancement to the tragedy.
As Noam Chomsky would have put it, Jews have historically been “worthy victims” in the US media. At least until recently.
I assume if the victim had been Palestinian, Russian, or North Korean (“unworthy victims”), the writer would have skipped this, or perhaps insinuated that the victim was involved in the shooting somehow.
Updated Guardian article regarding pro-Palestine march over Sydney Harbour Bridge .
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/aug/02/nsw-supreme-court-ruling-pro-palestine-march-sydney-harbour-bridge
The judge ruled the protest must be authorised and the bridge closrd, considering the motivations of the organisers and the urgency of the situation.
Craig Murray has a new article about the Appeal ruling in London, as he was present.
https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2025/08/huda-ammori-wins-a-judicial-review-of-palestine-action-proscription/
How bad is it for Bernie Sanders, who is supposed to represent the “left” in America, to be outflanked on the left by MAGA wingnut Marjorie Taylor Greene-
https://caityjohnstone.medium.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-called-it-a-genocide-before-bernie-sanders-f60f6faa8aed
Turns out that the Gazan genocide has now become the touchstone on who are real feeling humans.
Nope. Real feeling humans had problem with Gaza, and genocides (real ones, not MSM manufactured), and bombs, and many other things, long before current events. All those that just woke up, and realized that bad things are kinda bad, are full of male-bovine-excrement. It all looks like the I-support-the-current-thing meme.
Regarding the posts
… interviews with Amichay Eliyahu, Israel’s genocidal Minister of Heritage …
It seeems Israel does not mandate rabies vaccination, to prevent rabid dogs